City with Houses

Beschreibung

Beschreibung

A city with deteriorating houses. A pristine house seemingly without inhabitants. Inhabitants of a world no longer human. In this remarkable collection of stories, Ernst-Wilhelm Handler transports us to a place where nothing is quite as we know it. Handler creates a series of possible worlds, some resembling those we experience on a regular basis, others existing in startling opposition to everyday life. Narrated by businessmen, a philosopher, a prostitute who has undergone a sex change, and an old woman suffering from Alzheimer's, these stories unfold through experiments in thought, language, and voice that illustrate, reflect on, and reconfigure the problems that shape and unsettle our lives.
First published in German in 1995, City with Houses announced the arrival of a major talent. Although at home in many spheres, Handler writes as a literary outsider. His unusual perspective shakes us from the slumber of our own houses and awakens us to the realities, the possibilities, and the wonders of our day.

Portrait

ERNST-WILHELM HANDLER was born in Regensburg, Germany in 1953. He studied economics and philosophy and then worked as the head of his family business after completing his studies. City with Houses (Frank-furter Verlaganstalt, 1995) is his much lauded debut collection of short stories and he has since authored three novels Kongress (1996), Fall (1997) and Sturm (1999). In May 1999, he was awarded the Erik-Reger-Preis. MARTIN KLEBES is a graduate instructor in the department of German, the department of philosophy, and the Program in European Thought and Culture at Northwestern University.